


Got Your Back

by Ashapon



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, S.E.P.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-04 01:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12760437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashapon/pseuds/Ashapon
Summary: In so many ways, they always had each other’s back.





	Got Your Back

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is the one I submitted for the R76 zine Skin of Our Teeth, which I was super excited to play a part in. There are so many talented artists and writers that were involved and I'm grateful to be included among them. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Gabriel threw his head back and laughed when Jack stepped into the room with a steaming bowl of soup in his hands. For his part, Jack only feigned mild indignation before resuming his seat at Gabriel’s bedside.

“Come on,” Jack smiled, balancing the bowl in his lap and removing the lid. “It’s a classic. You’ll be back on your feet in no time.”

Gabriel shook his head, lips curled in a lazy grin, a poorly-concealed snort of laughter escaping him before he closed his eyes again. He couldn’t tell if this was as hilarious as it seemed or if the injection-induced fever had seized absolute control of his brain.

Jack reached out to settle a hand on his shoulder; Gabriel hadn’t responded for a few minutes, had dozed off.

“Med bay didn’t send you with the cure-all, huh?” Gabriel answered, words slurred. “Told you, this round’s weeding out the weak.”

“Then I guess you’ll need your strength,” Jack removed his hand, rising to perch on the edge of the bunk. “Because the Gabriel Reyes I know isn’t weak.”

Jack watched Gabriel sigh, the rise and fall of his friend’s chest so slight that he felt the need to slide even closer. To know for sure Gabriel hadn’t slipped in those few moments of silence.

Gabriel propped himself up on his elbows first, his arms quivering with the strain, then against his bunk’s headboard. His eyes trailing the folds of the blankets spread over his legs before he nodded, sheepish.

Jack didn’t let him reach the bowl or spoon first, determination set in his furrowed brow as he lifted the first spoonful up to Gabriel’s lips.

He was strong, they would make it through this.

\---

“That’s going to scar,” Jack frowned, tilting Gabriel’s head to the left to examine the cut. “Berman did this? You’re ten times faster than that guy.”

“Off day, I guess,” Gabriel winced when Jack’s thumb traced the inflamed skin just below the cut on his cheek. “I told you I’d take care of it.”

“If you think I’ll believe that after all this time,” Jack rolled his eyes, snatching up a package of disinfectant cloths. “You don’t have to lie to me, you know? What’s got you so distracted today?”

Gabriel remained silent, his cheeks heating up at the memory.

He hadn’t even considered that Berman was going to distract him, hadn’t thought the match had even started. Of course all Berman had to do was get him to turn around and of course Jack Morrison was hoisting twice his body weight above his head in a paper-thin white tank, skin glistening with a fresh sheen of sweat.

So Berman had landed a punch and their designated ref - a good pal of Berman’s, by pure coincidence - had allowed it.

And now Gabriel was here with his flimsy ‘off day’ defense that Jack obviously didn’t buy, but wasn’t going to press because they were good friends and he knew Gabriel well enough not to corner him.

Jack’s breath was cool against his cheek when he blew away any traces of the antiseptic - and successfully scared the shit out of Gabriel - before spreading on the ointment.

“There,” Jack sat back, satisfied, but his hands remained cradling Gabriel’s cheeks for a moment. “Like it never happened. Except now Berman’s got me to deal with.”

It was Gabriel’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Please don’t challenge him to a duel for my honor.”

Jack held up his hands, smile innocent.

“I wasn’t going to,” he hummed, standing. “He was facing me next in the roster, remember? But now I’m definitely making this a duel for your honor.”

Gabriel wasn’t quick enough to stop him from darting out of the locker room and down the hall to the gym.

\---

The first words Gabriel heard when he opened his eyes were “thank god”; the first thing he saw was the outline of a familiar jaw, the first thing he felt was Jack’s embrace.

And then there was the crippling pain, agony shooting through his veins like lightning, seizing his lungs in a vice grip and reducing his breath to a wheeze. His body panicked before his brain could catch up, fear forcing his heart to beat faster, forcing his lungs to take in air and let it out too quick for him to keep up.

“Gabe,” Jack’s voice was quiet, soothing in spite of the slight quiver. “Shhh, it’s okay, you’re okay. You need to breathe.”

It took a few minutes for Gabriel’s breath to even out, but Jack was there, patient, a physical presence coaxing him out of the frenzy. And then Gabriel could gather pieces, snippets of where he was through hooded eyes.

Towering trees, skies gray with smoke, birds… no, planes, sanctioned jets, helicopters soaring above them every two minutes.

Jack looked down at him and his struggle for a reassuring smile was slighted by the trail of tears on his bloodied cheek.

The circumstances didn’t matter, Gabriel wouldn’t stand for being the cause of such an expression. He swallowed the guilt, lifting an ungloved hand to brush across Jack’s cheek.

“You’re okay,” he chuckled and dropped his hand. “Hell of a ‘first day out in the field’, huh?”

Jack pulled him close, gentle and reaffirming.

“Don’t you dare…” his lips trembled against Gabriel’s bloody temple, “don’t even think about going anywhere.”

Gabriel closed his eyes and it wasn’t the pain that brought tears.

“I’m not,” he murmured, voice lost to the deafening hum of an approaching helicopter. “I’m right here.”


End file.
